Listing Text

700/37/2 MAIN STREET
18-JUL-49 PANNAL
(East side)
PARISH CHURCH OF ST ROBERT OF KNARESBO
ROUGH

II*
DATES OF MAIN PHASES, NAME OF ARCHITECT: Medieval parish church with C14 chancel, C15-C16 tower, C18 nave remodelled 1929, with extensions of 1955 and 1977.

MATERIALS: Dressed and coursed sandstone, graded-slate roofs.

PLAN: Nave, lower and narrower chancel, west tower, with C20 parish rooms on south side of the nave.

EXTERIOR: The Perpendicular 3-stage tower has diagonal buttresses and embattled parapet. In the lower stage is a segmental-pointed west doorway with broad chamfer, and ribbed door. Above it is a 3-light window. The second stage has small square-headed windows beneath round clock faces, and square-headed 2-light bell-stage openings have uncusped round-headed lights. The 4-bay nave has rusticated quoins and the rusticated surround of a former blind north doorway, which are the only indications that the nave is of Georgian origin. Windows are 2-light Perpendicular of 1929, of which the south-east has been shortened to accommodate the `chapter house¿. The chancel is Decorated. Its 3-light east window has reticulated tracery, and it has one north and 2 south 2-light windows, and ogee-headed south priests¿ doorway. The long low double-depth hall is on the south side of the nave, and is built of similar materials to the main body of the church. On its east side is the glazed polygonal room known as the `chapter house¿.

INTERIOR: Nave details are of 1929, including the tower arch and chancel arch, both on polygonal shafts. The nave has a tie-beam roof on corbelled brackets, with cusped arcading over the beams. The 4½-bay arched-brace chancel roof is probably part of the restoration of 1884. In the chancel is a low-set C14 ogee-headed piscina, indicating the extent to which the chancel floor has been raised. Two re-set corbels in the sanctuary walls may have been associated with a Lenten veil. Nave walls are plastered. The chancel has scribed render walls. There are floorboards below pews. In the chancel the stone-paved floor includes C17 and C19 ledgers. The sanctuary floor has early C20 mosaic memorials, beneath which is a crypt.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The font, probably of 1772, is of polished marble and of unusual oval shape. Its wooden canopy has a finial surmounted by a dove. The C19 pulpit is polygonal Perpendicular with a figure of the Good Shepherd. Pews are mainly C19 and their ends have notional poppy heads. Choir stalls have ends with scrolled foliage to the tops, and Gothic blind-panelled frontals. The C19 altar table incorporates C17 panels. The east window shows the Nativity (1883). There are C19 and C20 memorial tablets, and a memorial tablet to the Symeson/Simpson family set up after the death of William Simpson in 1886, by Day of Knaresborough.

HISTORY: A medieval church said to have been damaged by a Scottish raiding party in 1318. The chancel is C14, the tower probably C15-C16. The nave was rebuilt in 1772 and the church was restored in 1882-84. In 1929 the Georgian windows were replaced by Perpendicular windows and the nave ceiling was replaced. A church hall was added in 1955, and another room, known as the `chapter house¿, was added in 1977. These later elements are of lesser interest.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The Church of St Robert of Knaresborough, Pannal, is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
* For the extent of its medieval fabric, including the well-preserved tower and chancel.
* The interior retains a traditional layout with good-quality pews and choir stalls, and has an unusual C18 marble font and re-used C17 panels in the altar table.

This text is from the original listing, and may not necessarily reflect the current setting of the building.

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